may 2015 BCBusiness 21 BeRnhaRd hOLzmann
sudden loss of that and then to
refocus donor programs.
And then, as you were coming
out of the recession,
DSF was
slapped with an audit by the
Canada Revenue Agency and
thrust into a highly charged
political debate.
I used to have a very good rap-
port with the federal govern-
ment. I'm apolitical—I believe
you work with governments to
get the best policy outcomes
you can for the areas of interest
that you have. Although we've
always had a Conservative
government as long as I've
been at
DSF, I had a great rap-
port with Jim Prentice when he
was minister of environment;
we would have frank conversa-
tions. When he left you could
see something was going on.
My guess is that because the
government was interested in
promoting growth through the
extractive sector, they looked
at areas that could be an
impediment to achieving their
vision, and someone must
have said, "The environmental
sector is one of the areas, so
we should look at ways that we
can deal with that voice."
And this even though your
founder, who's known to be
quite politically outspoken,
had stepped away from the
foundation.
I talked to David and I said one
of the best things that could
happen, if you want to continue
to speak out, is to step off the
board and remove yourself
from the governance structure
of the foundation. David, who
is brilliant, said yes. He always
felt that the charitable status
of the
DSF was something he
couldn't jeopardize, so he
stepped off in September 2010.
But then 2012 comes around
and everyone knows the story
after that: you've got the infa-
mous letter from the natural
resources minister saying that
environmental groups are radi-
cal and foreign-funded, and the
environment minister saying
some are money-laundering
maybe terrorists. And in 2013
we were selected for an audit,
which we've just come out of.
What is the David Suzuki Foun-
dation after David Suzuki?
David no longer holds a formal
function. He's not a director of
the board, or a member, but
he's one of our biggest donors
and biggest volunteers and we
chat regularly. David is going
to be 80 next year, and he's
got a wealth of knowledge
about communications and
the environment and people
he's met. He's been very influ-
ential on how I think—and if
nothing else, that relationship
alone has been worth the time
I've spent at
DSF to tap into his
thinking.
•
david suzuki
essentials
PURCHASE TICKETS
June 5, 2015
Fairmont Hotel VancouVer
BORN march
24, 1936, in
Vancouver
PhD IN
zOOlOGY from
the University
of Chicago
(1961)
Started QuIRKS
AND QuARKS
on CBC radio
in 1974
host of ThE
NATuRE OF
ThINGS on CBC
tV since 1979
launched the
DAvID SuzuKI
FOuNDATION
in 1990
